Netanyahu, Ben Gvir publicly spar over Palestinian prisoner restrictions

The offices of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir provided conflicting statements about visitation limits for security prisoners on Friday.

Last month, Ben Gvir demanded several changes in the treatment of security prisoners due to the rising wave of terror incidents.

Among the changes that Ben Gvir demanded were restrictions on television channels, a change in the policy of keeping prisoners from the same terror organizations in the same cell, and limits to visitation rights by families of security prisoners.

Ben Gvir instructed the Israel Prison Service to reduce visits from the customary once per month to once every two months.

On Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) released a statement calling the reported change “fake news.”

“In response to reports that a decision has been made regarding the security prisoners: this is fake news. No decision has yet been made and such a decision will not be made, until the special discussion on the issue with the participation of all security agencies, which Prime Minister Netanyahu scheduled for next week,” according to the PMO statement.

Ben Gvir’s office responded with a statement of its own: “The decision to enforce the IPS regulations and comply with the provisions of the law, including that visits to the families of convicted terrorists will be once every two months and not once a month, was made at a working meeting between the Minister of National Security and the IPS Commissioner, on August 27.”

Ben Gvir also posted to social media, saying that law enforcement officers and the prison service “do not have the option to deviate from the provisions of the law and the IPS regulations, which stipulate that families may visit security prisoners in prison once every two months, and not once a month as the IPS has so far allowed.”

Several Palestinian groups have threatened a violent response if Ben Gvir’s change is accepted.

The executive committee secretary of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) Hussein al-Sheikh said, “The racist measures against the Palestinian prisoners announced by the racist Ben Gvir could cause an eruption.”

“Ben Gvir is the man who can blow up the situation. Hamas, with all the Palestinian resistance forces, will not allow this to happen. This is the most racist and oppressive Zionist step,” said Hamas Foreign Ministry official Ali Baraka.

An unnamed Palestinian source, reportedly close to several high-profile security prisoners, said Ben Gvir’s decision could “lead to a security deterioration," adding that "Ben Gvir wants to spark a fire in the West Bank and Gaza and is playing into the hands of the most extreme elements.”

Last week, during security talks with Ben Gvir in attendance, IDF Chief Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar warned that the prisoner visitation issue and Temple Mount visits during the High Holidays could lead to an escalation in terror attacks.